Sunday, March 28, 2010

Covering new ground here folks so please bare with me. This is the first time I have gone after a person who puts together a zine and so there was an interview but kind of a shortage of images. As I wondered how to figure that one out an invitation to "The Ranch" is handed to me by the interviewed. Bottom line it all came together nicely. A small recap of the 3rd issue party/jam will precede the interview and scattered through out will be images taken at said event.Ladonna Williams was nice enough to invite me out to a lovely hunk of property out near Manteca Ca. The reason for the invite was to get out of town...literally and shoot some skating, drink some beer, and kick it with some nice folks. I had heard of the ramp that is out on this property from a few folks and had often wondered how I could get out there sometime. Looks like I turned over the right stone with out even knowing it. The premise behind the party was the release of the third issue of "Hate On This". Along with the mag getting into hot little hands was a ladies session complete with prizes provided by Silly Girl Designs, Lowcard, Vertical Smile, Pile Style and Paying in pain. The ladies arrived fashionably late but put on a show none the less. These ladies rip and I was stoked to say the least. Thanks to all the folks who made my first trip out to the ranch a killer one, big shouts to Ladonna and Frank. Well lets get to the meat of the matter. I originally hit up Ladonna to see about getting some work....providing content or shooting, she quickly responded with a real positive vibe and said she would be happy to run a shot. One good turn deserves another so I shot out the idea of an interview and she was down. So lets get on with the interview and some photos.

ChristianC: Name, age, location, occupation.L: Ladonna Williams, 26, Escalon, CA and I work part-time in a deli and going to school for Massage TherapyC: Give us a bit of background with you and skating.L: I started playing around with skateboarding in high school a bit, but I didn't really get serious with it until after I graduated. I got my first board used from these rad dudes at a skate shop in Owensboro, KY and started skating with them that same night. I've been skateboarding pretty much non-stop since 2002, with the exception of breaking my ankle and taking four months off in 2007.C: How did the idea of the mag come about?L: I've been wanting to do a zine since I moved to California, 2 years ago. I actually started the zine under an organization called Skate Like A Girl, but I wound up doing it solo after the first issue.C: Have you published mags before?L: No I haven't, but when I was a little girl, I would always put together little random booklets...they never made any since! I actually have one lying around here that I made in middle school. I'll have to show it to you sometime...it's good for a laugh!C: Did you have help from anyone in particular getting the mag off the ground?L: For the first issue, SLAG supported me a great deal, but when I took the project on by myself, I pretty much only had a hand full of people pitching in. Particularly: Jen V, Sarah, Jo, Jolie and Michelle, with random contributions here and there.C: Any people who inspire you to keep at it?L: Josie Ramondetta for sure..she'll send me an inspirational email every once and a while! Josie and a couple of her pals write a photography zine called BEERSPIT...super rad. Rob from Lowcard is always killing it! Lowcard has become my all time favorite mag ever! Everyone that is stoked on the zine inspires me to keep at it. I really like that our publication is highlighting women in skateboarding, but in a way that dudes are down for it too!C: How do folks contribute, and are you looking for that?L: I love contributions! Are you kidding me?! That's pretty much 90% of the zine! I am still looking for that perfect camera so I really rely on putting the spot light on underground photographers and turning some heads their way, ya know? Plus it just makes the zine so much more versatile in providing all of those different perspectives. Submissions go to: hateonthiszine@gmail.com, subject: submission.C: How often does the zine come out?L: We're shooting for 4 times a year. We'll see how that goes!C: Thanks for your time. Any shout outs as we wrap this up?L: Thanks to you, Christian! I wanted to tell you that I dedicated a section in the zine inspired by you! It's called "THE MAN CAVE" and it's going to be a page to post pictures of dudes ripping it! Maybe next month I can do "BEHIND THE LENS" with you, which is a 2 page article highlighting an underground photographer and their work.Shout outs: Everyone that helps out with the zine, Jen, Jo, Sarah and Michele; and everyone that contributes, all of our advertisers Verticle Smile, Bacon Skateboards, Lurk Hard, Jack's Board House, The Side Project, Underground and Bapple Board Company, Silly Girl Design, Purple Skunk Skateshop, SFSA; Lowcard Mag; The Ranch; Ivan Shoob (for hooking up the printing) and BEERSPIT.

Friday, March 26, 2010

Had a chance to get to my first premier thanks to Joel and Metro skate shop. The production was great, that whole team rips, and there was this sick "friends of" section that had some local rippers. There was a full house and the metro guys got some product together from Osiris and a host of other company's and raffled it off. On a hilarious note team rider Chris Jatoft actually won a pair of shoes in the raffle. I have to admit if I get to do more of these types of events I need to get better at shooting them, but here is what I managed to grab. If you have a chance definitely get your hands on the video when it drops. Thanks again for the invite Joel.

Monday, March 22, 2010

*Yawn....damn I'm up early. Kinda feels weird getting a bunch of fools up and out at an early mark, but I gotta get on the road cuz the destination is Rocklin at Epic park. This is the first of many jams to come down the pipe this spring/summer and I'm juiced. Epic park is a super nice spot but talk about cutty, and entry fee... um, nobody I know is made of money. Enough of the thorns...the jam was sick, bangers went down and over all watchin' and shooting was the business. The shots I got are the typical contest stuff and I'm juiced to have been there to watch it all go down. Big thanks to all the players involved, Vertical smile, Ikon, 4141, Red bull, Skullcandy, and Del.